Jay Ruud

Chair, Department of English
University of Central Arkansas
Conway, AR 72035


Office:  Irby 317I
Office Phone: (501) 450-3674
e-mail: JRuud@mail.uca.edu

 

EDUCATION

  • Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1981 (English)
  • MA University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1974 (English)
  • BA University of Wisconsin-Parkside, 1972 (English)

FULL-TIME TEACHING EXPERIENCE

  • 2003-current, University of Central Arkansas, Professor of English (Conway, Arkansas)
  • 1985-2003, Northern State University, Assistant Professor 1985-1989; Associate Professor;1989-1994, Full Professor 1994-2003 (Aberdeen, South Dakota)
  • 1984-1985 University of Wisconsin-Marathon County, Lecturer (Wausau, Wisconsin)
  • 1977-1983 University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Lecturer (Kenosha, Wisconsin)

ADMINISTRATIVE AND RELATED EXPERIENCE

  • 2003-current: Chair, Department of English, University of Central Arkansas
  • 1998-2003:  Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Northern State University
  • 1997-1998: Interim Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Northern State University
  • 1996-1997: Assistant Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Northern State University
  • 1988-94: Chair, Department of Language, Literature, and Communication, Northern State University
  • 1983-84: Coordinator of Testing, University of Wisconsin-Parkside


ADMINISTRATIVE TRAINING

  • Harvard Institutes for Higher Education “Management and Leadership in Education” program, Harvard University, June 2002.
  • Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences “Marketing, Media, and the Arts and Sciences” workshop, St. Louis, Mo., March 2002.
  • Wharton-IRHE Executive Education Program for the Knight Collaborative, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, July 1998.
  • Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences Seminar for New Deans, San Diego, Cal., July 1998.

COURSES  TAUGHT

At UCA (2003-2006):

  • Introduction to Poetry
  • Introduction to Drama
  • World Literature I
  • English Literature I
  • Medieval Literature: The English Arthurian Tradition (graduate course)
  • Medieval Survey (graduate/undergraduate)
  • History and Structure of the English Language (graduate/undergraduate)
  • Tudor and Stuart Drama (graduate/undergraduate)
  • Comedy
  • Chaucer (graduate/undergraduate)
  • Dante
  • Research Methods (graduate course)

At NSU (1985-2003):

  • Composition I
  • Composition II
  • Introduction to Literature
  • English Literature I
  • English Literature II
  • English Literature III
  • Introduction to Literary Study (gateway course for majors)
  • The Modern Short Story (graduate/undergraduate)
  • Arthurian Literature (graduate/undergraduate)
  • Bible as Literature
  • Mythology in Literature
  • Film as Literature (graduate/undergraduate)
  • Medieval Survey
  • Ancient and Classical Survey
  • Enlightenment Survey
  • History and Structure of the English Language (graduate/undergraduate)
  • Modern Grammar
  • Chaucer (graduate/undergraduate)
  • Shakespeare II: Comedies and Histories
  • Metaphysical Poetry (graduate course)
  • Milton (graduate/undergraduate)
  • Dante
  • Comedy
  • Philosophy of Religion

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Books

  • “Many a Song and Many a Lecherous Lay”: Tradition and Individuality in Chaucer’s Lyric Poetry. New York: Garland Press, 1992
  • Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
  • A Critical Guide to Dante. New York: Facts on File, in press.

Conference Proceedings

  • Proceedings of the First Dakotas Conference on Earlier British Literature. Ed. Jay Ruud. Aberdeen, SD: NSU Press, 1993.
  • Proceedings of the Seventh Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature. Ed. Jay Ruud. Aberdeen, SD: NSU Press, 1999.

Journal Articles or Sections of Books

 

  •  “Julian of Norwich and Piers Plowman: The Allegory of the Incarnation and Universal Salvation.” Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching 13.1 (2006): 63-84.
  • “The Jews in the Chester Play of Antichrist.” In Geardagum 26 (2006): 53-72.
  • “Female Personae and Women Writers: Chaucer and the Findern Manuscript.” Medieval Perspectives 20 (2005): 112-32.
  • “Blinded by the Light: Troilus’ Dawn Song and Christian Tradition.” Proceedings of the 11th Annual Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature. Ed. Michelle M. Sauer. Minot State University: Minot, ND, 2003.
  • “Realism, Nominalism, and the Inconclusive Ending of The Parliament of Fowles.”  In Geardagum 23 (2002): 1-28.
  • “Declaiming Chaucer to a Field of Cows: Three Twentieth-Century Views of the Poet.” Proceedings of the Tenth Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature. Ed. Barbara Olive and David Sprunger. Moorhead, MN: Concordia College, 2002. 8-21.
  • “Aslan’s Sacrifice and the Doctrine of Atonement in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” Mythlore 23 (2001): 15-23.
  • “What Chaucer Really Did to Petrarch’s Sonnet 132.” Proceedings of the Ninth Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature. Ed. Nicholas Wallerstein and Roger Ochse. Spearfish, SD: Black Hills State University, 2001. 74-84.
  • “The Gifts of Fortune, Nature, and Grace and the Structure of Piers Plowman B.XI.” Publications of the Medieval Association of the Midwest. Ed. Mel Storm. 7 (2000): 37-62.
  • “Medieval Woman Writing Medieval Woman: Christine de Pizan’s Ditié de Jehanne d’Arc.” Proceedings of the Eighth Northern Plains Conference on Early English Literature. Ed. Robert J. De Smith. Sioux Center, Iowa: Dordt College, 2000. 73-88.
  • “‘I wolde for thi loue dye’:  Julian, Romance Discourse, and the Masculine.” Julian of Norwich:  A Book of Essays.  Ed. Sandra J. McEntire.  New York:  Garland Press, 1998: 183-206.
  • “The Restorative Function of Teacher Institutes; or, ‘When You Call Me That, Smile.’” Silver Anniversary Anthology: Twenty-Five Years of the South Dakota Humanities Council, 1972-1997. Ed. Thomas J. Gasque. Brookings, SD: South Dakota Humanities Council, 1997.
  • “Plowing through the Fair Field: Teaching Piers Plowman.” Proceedings of the Fifth Dakotas/Nebraska Conference on Earlier British Literature. Ed. Phillip J. Hanse. Jamestown, ND: Jamestown College, 1997.
  • “The Literary Lineage of Lady Dalila.” Proceedings of the Fourth Dakotas-Nebraska Conference on Early British Literature. Ed. Bill Clemente and Mary Mokris. Peru, NE:  Peru State College, 1996.
  • “Images of the Self and Self Image in Julian of Norwich.” Studia Mystica 16 [n.s. 1] (1995): 82-105.
  • “Julian of Norwich and the Nominalist Questions.” Literary Nominalism and the Theory of Rereading Late Medieval Texts. Ed. Richard Utz. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen, 1995. 31-50.
  • “The Pardoner’s Tale and the Parody of the Resurrection.” Proceedings of the Third Dakotas Conference on Earlier British Literature. Ed. Bruce E. Brandt. Brookings, SD: SDSU English Department, 1995.
  • “Language of the Self in Julian of Norwich.” a/b: Auto/Biography Studies 9 (1994): 231-45.
  • “A Mystic in Brit Lit I.” Proceedings of the Second Dakotas Conference on Early British Literature. E. John H. Laflin. Aberdeen, SD: NSU Press, 1994.
  • “Nature and Grace in Julian of Norwich.” Mystics Quarterly 19 (1993): 71-81.
  • “Milton’s Sonnet 18 and the Psalms.” Milton Quarterly 26 (October 1992): 80-81.
  • “Teaching the ‘Hoole’ Tradition through Parallel Passages.” Approaches to Teaching Arthurian Tradition. Ed. Maureen Fries and Jeanie Watson. New York: MLA, 1992. 73-76.
  • “‘My Spirit Hath His Fostryng in the Bible’: The Summoner’s Tale and the Holy Spirit.” Rebels and Rivals: The Contestive Spirit in the Canterbury Tales. Ed. Susanna Greer Fein, David Raybin, and Peter Braeger. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 1991. 125-48.
  • “‘Womanly Noblesse’ and the Psychology of Love.” In Geardagum 12 (1991): 15-34.
  • “Back to the Future as Quintessential Comedy.” Literature/Film Quarterly 19 (1991): 127-33.
  • “‘In Meetre in Many a Sundry Wyse’: Fortune’s Wheel and The Monk’s Tale.” English Language Notes 26 (1989): 6-11.
  • “Natural Law and Chaucer’s ‘Physician’s Tale’.” Journal of the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association 9 (1988): 29-45.
  • “Chaucer and Nominalism: The ‘Envoy to Bukton’.” Mediaevalia 10 (1984 [pub. 1988]): 199-212.
  •  “The Writer's Audience:  An Exploration of ‘The Nun's Priest's Tale.’”  Wisconsin English Journal 9 (1987):  1-9.
  • “Chaucer’s Envoy to Scogan: ‘Tullius’ Kyndenesse’ and the Law of Kynde.” Chaucer Review 19 (1986): 323-30.
  • “A Note on Chaucer’s ‘Fortune’.” Explicator 43 (1984): 8-9.
  • “Thomas Berger’s Arthur Rex: Galahad and Earthly Power.” Critique: Studies in Modern Fiction 25 (1984): 92-100.
  • “Chaucer’s ‘Complaint to His Purse’.” Explicator 41 (1983): 5-6.
  • “Against Women Unconstant: The Case for Chaucer’s Authorship.” Modern Philology 80 (1982): 161-64.
  • “Teaching the ‘Medieval World’ in the Modern Industrial Society.”  Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching 9 (Spring 1982):  6.
  • “Herbert’s Sinnes Round’.” Explicator 34 (1976): no. 35.
  • “Gardner’s Grendel and Beowulf: Humanizing the Monster.” Thoth 14 (1974): 3-17.

Reference Articles

  • Entries on “Edward,” “Envoy to Bukton,” “Envoy to Scogan,” The Flour and the Leaf,” “The Land of Cockayne,” “Lenten is come with love to toun,” “Mum and the Sothsegger,” “The Owl and the Nightingale,” “Pierce the Plowman’s Creed,” “The Regement of Princes,” for reference book “English Poetry: Pre-1600,” edited by Michelle Sauer. Contracted with Facts on File.
  • “John Gower.”  Critical Survey of Poetry.  8 vols.  Washington, D.C.:  Salem Press, 1982. III, 1112-23.
  • “William Langland.”  Critical Survey of Poetry.  8 vols.  Washington, D.C.:  Salem Press, 1982.  IV, 1646-55.
  • “Siegfried Sassoon.”  Critical Survey of Poetry.  8 vols.  Washington, D.C.:  Salem Press, 1982.  VI, 2466-75.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

  • “Trajan, Ripheus, Cato, Virgil? Strangers in Paradise.” 32nd Southeast Medieval Association Convention, Oxford, Mississippi, October 12-14, 2006.
  • “Spinning Tales: The Practice of PR and the Canterbury Pilgrims.” 31st Southeast Medieval Association Convention, Daytona Beach, Florida, September 29-October 1, 2005.
  • “The Jews in the Chester Play of Antichrist.” Fifth Conference on Teaching the Middle Ages, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, April 2005.
  •  “Female Personae and Women Writers: Chaucer and the Findern Manuscript.” 30th Southeast Medieval Association Convention, College of Charleston, South Carolina, October 2004.
  • “Julian of Norwich and Piers Plowman: The Allegory of the Incarnation and Universal Salvation.” Fourth Conference on Teaching the Middle Ages, Kennesaw State University, Georgia, April 2004.
  • “Blinded by the Light: Troilus’ Dawn Song and Christian Tradition.” 11th Annual Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature, Minot State University, Minot, ND, April 2003.
  • “Declaiming Chaucer to a Field of Cows: Three Twentieth-Century Views of the Poet.” Tenth Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota, April 2002.
  • “What Chaucer Really Did to Petrarch’s Sonnet 132.” Ninth Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature. Black Hills State University, Spearfish, SD, April 2001.
  • “Medieval Woman Writing Medieval Woman: Christine de Pizan’s Ditié de Jehanne d’Arc.” Eighth Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature. Dordt College, Sioux Center, Iowa, April 2000.
  • “The Structure of Piers Plowman B.XI.”  Thirty-Third International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 1998.
  • “Plowing through the Fair Field: Teaching Piers Plowman.” Fifth Dakotas/Nebraska Conference on Earlier British Literature. Jamestown College, Jamestown ND, April 1997.
  • “Negotiated Connections: Teaching Langland with Chaucer.” Part of panel presentation at New Chaucer Society Convention, Los Angeles, California, August 1996.
  • “‘I Wolde for Thy Love Die’: Julian, Romance Discourse, and the Masculine.” Thirty-First International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 1996.
  • “The Literary Lineage of Lady Dalila.” Fourth Dakotas-Nebraska Conference on Early British Literature, Peru State College, Peru, NE, April 1996.
  • “The Pardoner’s Tale and the Parody of the Resurrection.” Third Dakotas Conference on Earlier British Literature, Brookings, SD, April 1995.
  • “Teaching and Technology.” Part of panel presentation at ADE Convention in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, July 1994.
  • “A Mystic in Brit Lit I.” Second Dakotas Conference on Early British Literature. Dakota State University, Madison, SD, April 1994.
  • “Chaucer on the Prairie.” Part of panel presentation at New Chaucer Society Convention, Seattle, Washington, August 1992.
  • “Representation of the Self in Julian of Norwich.” Eighth Biennial New College Conference on Medieval-Renaissance Studies, Sarasota, Florida, March 1992.
  • “Nature and Grace in Julian of Norwich.” Midwest MLA Convention, Chicago, Illinois, November 1991.
  • “‘The Summoner’s Tale’ and Abraham’s Children.” Eleventh Medieval Forum, Plymouth State College, Plymouth, New Hampshire, April 1990.
  • “Chaucer’s Virginia and Natural Law.” Twenty-Third International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 1988.
  • “Teaching Arthurian Tradition through Parallel Passages.” Conference on Teaching the Middle Ages, Emporia State College, Emporia, Kansas, March 1986.
  • “The Birds’ Song as Key to the Parliament of Fowles.” Sixth International Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Conference, Villanova University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 1981.
  • “Chaucer’s Envoy to Scogan: ‘Tullius Kyndenesse’ and the Law of Kynde.” Sixteenth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 1981.
  • “Reading, Perceiving, and Anelida and Arcite.” Thirteenth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 1978.

 

 

GRANTS

  • UCA University Research Council grant to fund Graduate Assistant for editing of Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature, summer and fall semesters 2004 ($4480 funded)
  • Small grant from South Dakota Humanities Council to direct Seventh Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature, April 1999 (ca. $2000 funded)
  • South Dakota Humanities Council grant to co-direct summer institute on “Women’s Literary Legacy:  Early Women Writers,” for secondary school teachers, summer 1998. ($12,600 funded)
  • National Endowment for the Humanities grant to direct a four-week institute for secondary school teachers on “Literature of the Plains Indians,” June 6-July 1, 1994. ($85,000 funded)
  • South Dakota Humanities Council grant to direct Annual Humanities Conference, entitled “Cultural Diversity: A Humanities Perspective,” in Aberdeen in October, 1993. ($19,000 funded)
  • South Dakota Humanities Council grant to direct summer institute on “The Columbian Legacy: A Meeting of Cultures,” for secondary school teachers, summer 1992. ($12,600 funded)
  • Small grant from South Dakota Humanities Council to direct First Dakotas Conference on Early British Literature, April 1992.
  • South Dakota Humanities Council grant to direct summer institute on “King Arthur: The Enduring Legend,” for secondary school teachers, summer 1990. ($13,000 funded)
  • National Endowment for the Humanities grant to direct Canterbury Tales institute for secondary school teachers, summer 1989. ($62,000 funded)

AWARDS

  • Selected as participant in NEH institute on “Jews in Medieval Christendom,” Oxford University, summer 2003.
  • Selected as participant in NEH institute on “Chaucer and Langland,” University of Colorado, summer 1995.
  • Outstanding Faculty Member Award, Northern State University, 1989.
  • Burlington Northern Faculty Achievement Award, Northern State University, 1989.
  • Selected as participant in six-week NEH Institute on “John Milton,” University of Arizona, summer 1988.
  • Selected as participant in six-week NEH Institute on “The Canterbury Tales,” University of Connecticut, summer 1987.